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Zero-Waste Challenge in Pointe-Claire: A look back on a successful experience!
From September 2020 to January 2021, nine families participated in the City of Pointe-Claire’s first Zero-Waste Challenge. This experience led them to adopt best practices in waste management in response to new environmental challenges.
“I’m proud of our citizens’ involvement in this project, which will help them develop new habits. We thank them for their participation. These families are a source of inspiration for our community,” Mayor John Belvedere said.
The nine families, eight representing the districts and one from City Council, set goals from the start to reduce their waste. To achieve these goals, they introduced new habits into their daily lives: choosing products with the least amount of packaging, evaluating their purchases: is it an essential purchase or not, making their own products and opting for reusable products as much as possible.
Throughout their journey, the families received support, including workshops, advice, discussion groups and reading suggestions to deepen their knowledge of zero-waste living and help them adopt best practices.
Despite the additional challenges brought about by the pandemic, we found that the families showed determination, which resulted in a very positive outcome:
- 63% of them met or exceeded their waste reduction target.
- On average, families reduced their household waste by 44% over the four months of the challenge.
- Three families reduced their recyclables, one of them by more than 50%.
- Although it was not a target, families reduced their organic waste production by 11%, which means less food waste.
Lastly, at the end of the project, this is what the families had to say about their experience:
“The Challenge was eye-opening. Not only did we learn about reducing waste, but we also learned about essential purchases.”
“With just a few changes and some pre-planning, it’s easy to significant reduce waste.”
“We want to continue the journey. Our goal would be to eliminate plastic from our lives as much as possible and reduce our consumption in general.”
“We were already taking action to reduce our impact. The challenge accelerated this process, it motivated us to reach our goals faster.”
Would you also like to reduce your waste and learn more about zero-waste living? Check out the Zero-Waste page on the City’s website for tips on how to establish your goals and change your habits.